CHRISTMAS CHEER
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,--An old lady, of pronounced humanitarian views, sug- gested to me this Christmas that all the people who take such delight in Christmas cheer should be obliged themselves to kill the animals and birds which they eat. This is perhaps an unpractical, if fascinating, suggestion, but at least common decency should restrain us from public jubilation over their slaughter. The photographs which have been appearing in the Press of animals waiting for auction, or being driven up for slaughter, should remind us not of good cheer and jollity, but of the death of millions of companionable creatures, and of the suffering involved in our present barbarous methods of slaughter.
. Let all those who have enjoyed their Christmas dinners join in the effort to secure that the Bill now before Parliament shall go forward unmutilated as regards the provisions for the slaughter of small animals. Those who have subsequently suffered for their conviviality should have an added incentive to this work of elementary kindness.—I am, Sir, &c., A. M. W.
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